It was first seen at the National Day Parade (NDP) 2007 at Marina Bay in August. But it became so popular that it sparked off a competition crying out for the creative juices of Singaporeans.

5 months and over 5,700 entries later, the multi-coloured NDP FunPack conceived by local design company H55 has achieved yet another feat.

This time, it’s Singapore’s largest ASSEMBLY Bag with 507 shortlisted entries pieced together in celebration of the city of possibilities.

From a vibrant Singapore to a world of imagination, the ASSEMBLY Bag Design Competition and Exhibition saw the artworks pouring in, all in different colours and patterns.

Dr Milton Tan, Director of DesignSingapore Council, commented, “I think the response is just wonderful.”

“It was very encouraging to see so many people, of all ages, coming down to support this,” added Dr Tan, a former head of the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) School of Architecture. “The project was meant to encourage community spirit within Singaporeans and I think we’ve just achieved it.”

The design event, held at VivoCity, also saw the presence of Guest-of-Honour, Minister of State for Defence, Associate Professor Koo Tsai Kee who gave out the prizes to the winners of the respective categories.

Janis Nah, who came out tops in the open category for physical entries, shared with Urbanwire that she “really didn’t expect to win this”.

The 17-year-old Temasek Polytechnic (TP) student took home with her the top individual prize of $900 in cash, a LeMON MP3 Player, a HTC Touch phone and also a NewUrbanMale bag.

“I think the other designs were very nice and I am sure that some of them spent days working on the designs,” said Janis, who submitted her winning entry on the last day of the competition.

The competition, which was held in conjunction with the annual Singapore Design Festival, was launched in a bid to ignite the creative spark in every Singaporean. Featuring designers from all walks of life including school-going kids to homemakers, it was the perfect way to display the dreams and visions Singaporeans share for the nation.

Hanson Ho, a judge for the ASSEMBLY Bag Design Competition, shared his views on the overall entries, “It was encouraging to see participation from thousands of Singaporeans, which was what this competition is all about.”

Ho, the designer responsible for the first Singaporean-designed NDP FunPacks, added, “The judging process was a pretty straightforward selection and the panel were all in agreement that the winning designs deserved to win.”

Other judges making up the panel of 12 included founder of 77th Street, Ms Elim Chew and Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) Mr Siew Kum Hong.

Chew, a DesignSingapore Council Member, added, “Judging was tough with the thousand of entries received. Some of the designs we received were exceptionally creative.”

“The exhibition is just a simple way of bringing all these ideas together and see the many possibilities in design,” she said.

The ASSEMBLY Bag Design Exhibition will be on display at the VivoCity Sentosa Concourse until Dec 14.